MANCUNIANS had a boozy Christmas, according to new online shopping figures. Sales of spirits and beer were higher than the UK average in Greater Manchester while sales of sherry also shot up.

The data was gathered from virtual shopping baskets at comparison website mySupermarket.co.uk. Experts looked at the percentage proportion of each product in each basket from 50,000 shoppers.

Mancunians bought more beer with 14.5 pc in each basket compared to the national average of 13.5 pc. The sale of spirits were 1pc higher than the UK average, however, the overall basket spend on spirits dropped by more than 3pc compared to 2013.

Sherry seemed to be THE alcoholic beverage this Christmas with sales dramatically increasing from below the UK average with 0.19pc in 2013 to 1.43pc this year.

The data indicates that sales of Christmas turkeys and cranberry sauce fell in Greater Manchester. In 2013, turkeys made up 3.37 pc of the virtual baskets on mySupermarket.co.uk. This year that figure dropped to 1.43 pc - below the national average of 2.5 pc.

Retail experts say the fall in turkey sales could be due to shoppers opting for more ‘exotic’ birds this Christmas. Tarlok Teji, from Manchester Business School, said: “The reason turkey sales could have dropped could be because people are earning a little bit more money.

“When people earn more they tend to go for exotic birds like goose or pheasant. Whereas in times of austerity, more people will buy a turkey because you get more out of it.”

Sales of the humble mince pie dropped at a faster rate than the national average from 3.75 pc in 2013 to 2.24pc. Gilad Simhony, chief executive of mySupermarket.co.uk, said: “Although the supermarket price war has been well publicised, we found that the cost of Christmas, generally speaking, has risen ever so slightly over the last couple of years.

“This could be the reason behind shoppers in Greater Manchester buying less of their favourite Christmas groceries compared to last year. Across the UK, less shoppers had spirits, beer, chocolate, turkey and mince pies in their shopping baskets, and this trend was also seen in the Greater Manchester area. Only sherry bucked the trend with Mancunians buying more of the sweet stuff.

Gilad Simhony, chief executive of mysupermarket.co.uk

“It is worth shopping around as there are major savings to be found on certain items - champagne in particular this year has been priced very competitively in December. Shoppers should compare prices - for their Christmas shopping but also all year round - between supermarkets as well as between brand and own brand items. When prices do come down, shoppers should consider buying in bulk saving even more money and creating better value.

“Looking into the New Year there is lots of cheer to be found, however, with prices fluctuating so regularly, shoppers should be keeping a close regular eye on the prices of their favourite products.”

How Greater Manchester online shoppers compare with the rest of Britain in 2014

Spirits: 15.31% (National average 14.39%)

Beer: 14.49% (13.5%)

Sherry: 1.43% ( 0.98%)

Turkey: 1.43% ( 2.50%)

Cranberry Sauce: 1.02% (3.69%)

Mince Pies: 2.24% (5.55%)

Proportion of all shopping baskets on mySupermarket.co.uk that included that product. The data, from December 1 to 23, based on a panel of 50,000 average monthly mySupermarket shoppers

Shoppers 'are slowly getting a bit more money'

Tarlok Teji, from Manchester Business School, said high alcohol sales for Greater Manchester reflect a northern trend. “We need to remember that this data refers only to a small subset of online spending," he said.

“It is a small, specific customer base so how representative of Greater Manchester it is needs caution. That being said, year-on-year consumer spending seems to have gone up. That is typical of what I’d expect.

Tarlok Teji of the Manchester Business School

“However, people will have been spending a little bit more because they now have greater confidence in the economy. Shoppers are slowly getting a bit more money which means they have more disposable income.

“Food prices and petrol prices are going down so there’s a bit more in their pay packets and most Brits will spend it. Also at Christmas, people don’t always spend in the normal way.

“Spending in Manchester and the north west is usually lower than the national average. This could be because people are more careful with their money or because their incomes are less. As for beers and spirits, the figures for Greater Manchester reflect a northern trend where the average spend on booze tends to be higher.”